State education departments around Australia have told Crikey private corporations like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, are not restricted from advertising their products to children inside classrooms.

However, after contacting education departments in every state and territory, the consistent response is that it’s up to schools to decide what resources they use.

When asked about policies on whether corporations could advertise in books used in schools, most Australian educational authorities did not have any restrictions.

The message to corporations from Australian educational authorities couldn’t be clearer: the captive market of impressionable young consumers sitting in classrooms from Broome to Bondi is yours for the taking.

To paraphrase a Simspons episode mocking the idea of corporate sponsorship of the classroom :

Q : Now, children. If I drink one Pepsi, and then I drink another Pepsi, how much more refreshed will I be?

A: Pepsi!

An American 'education program' in the 1980s infamously flooded Afghanistan schools with text books teaching children how to count with images of Russian tanks and rocket launchers instead of apples and cute puppies.

Maybe McDonalds will supply free text books to Australian schools if they're allowed to teach children how to count with images of hamburgers and chocolate thickshakes?